LoJack System Helps Lehigh County Auto Theft Task Force Recover Stolen Audi Q7
- August 18, 2017
- recovery stories
The owner of an Audi Q7 recently discovered that the vehicle had had been stolen from New York City. The vehicle owner called 911 and New York City Police Department Radio dispatched a uniformed officer to investigate the incident. The officer quickly arrived on location, interviewed the complainant and then surveyed the area for the Audi. The NYPD verified the theft and entered the vehicle information into the state and federal crime computers which automatically activated the LoJack® System concealed in the Audi.
The members of the Lehigh County Auto Theft Task Force monitor any and all stolen vehicle activity within the area of their jurisdiction. The members of the task force are assigned undercover police vehicles which are equipped with LoJack Police Tracking Computers (PTC’s). The highly trained stolen vehicle investigators intercepted the LoJack signal assigned to the stolen Audi. Following the directional and audible cues from the PTC, the auto theft investigators tracked the signal to the area of 6th and Lehigh Streets in Allentown. The investigators observed a parked vehicle matching the description of the stolen Audi and cautiously approached same to discover that the vehicle was unoccupied. Surveillance was set up on the Audi but the action had negative results. The investigators approached the Audi and examined same to discover that the public vehicle identification number displayed in the windshield did not match the vehicle identification number of the Audi reported stolen earlier in New York. The investigators then conducted a neighborhood survey in an attempt to gather any information about the Audi. During the course of the survey, a resident identified themselves as the owner of the Audi stating that the vehicle was just purchased in New York City. The investigators were granted permission by said owner to conduct an examination the Audi. The skilled investigators located the confidential vehicle identification number and discovered that this number did not match the public vehicle identification number but was in fact the Audi reported stolen in New York. This practice is commonly known as a re-plate and is used to disguise a stolen vehicle as a legitimate vehicle.
The Audi was confiscated for safekeeping and further investigation by the members of the Lehigh County Auto Theft Task Force. The NYPD were notified regarding the recovery and the stolen vehicle alarm was cancelled in the police computer system.
The LoJack® System was installed in the Audi Q7 in October 2006 at Audi of Warwick in Rhode Island.